Quite Contrary
by Rose Jennison
Summary: After Mary's portrait is burned in the gallery, she finds herself waking up in a strange place, and meeting even stranger people. A story in which two damaged, somewhat psychotic children, find redemption with each other and their new family.
1. Chapter 1

Mary was dead.

She had to be. She'd seen Garry set fire to her frame, and had felt the flames devour every inch of her.

She'd never felt such indescribable pain.

She'd instinctively buried her face in her arms in some desperate attempt to protect her eyes. The flames were kept at bay, but there was no way to escape the heat that accompanied them. Mary felt as if her eyes would melt from the intensity of it.

Perhaps that is why everything went dark a moment later. Mary's own screams rang in her ears as the world dissolved around her, and then there was nothing. No sight, no sound, no touch, nothing at all.

was dead. There was no other explanation for it.

Given this knowledge, Mary had to wonder why everything suddenly smelt of flowers.

After smell, other senses came back to her. Pressure on her back told her she was lying down, and the sound of dripping liquid made her think of how the gallery 'talked' to it's inhabitants. Breathing through her mouth resulted in tasting dank air. That just left...

Mary cracked her eyes open, and shut them almost immediately. It was so bright! She had never seen anything so bright, what could it be? Mary opened her eyes again, slower this time. She blinked a few times, letting her eyes adjust, and took in the sight before her. She was...in a hole of some kind? A cave? She'd never been in one, but a few of her father's works had depicted them. The rocky walls rose high above her, and at the very top the hole opened to reveal...!

Mary's jaw dropped. Was...was that the sun? The REAL sun? It was bright, painfully bright, but so wondrously warm. The gallery had always been cool, the only warmth there had been created by the sun she herself had drawn after seeing it in paintings and books. For a while Mary could do nothing but lie there, reveling in the feeling of the sun on her skin and hair.

Awe couldn't keep the questions from Mary's curious mind forever though.

Was this the outside world? How had she gotten here? Why wasn't she dead? Could she climb the rock face and get closer to the sun?

The sound of another voice broke her out of the strange trance she'd fallen in. Mary turned her head, wincing as the her neck protested. A short distance away, she spied a mop of brown hair peaking out from the field of yellow and green.

 _'Ib?'_ Mary thought hopefully. She knew Ib was angry with her, and probably had a right to be if she were entirely honest with herself, but she couldn't help being happy to see her one friend. Ib might even know where they were and how they got there.

With that optimistic thought in mind, Mary sat up. She almost fell back down when pain surged through her. Sucking in a gasp, and gripped her green skirt. The ache subsided several moment later, which allowed Mary to notice her hands. When did the backs of her hands become covered in red wrinkles? She moved her hands closer to her face, to examine them, but stopped. Wherever her clothes brushed against her skin became painfully itchy.

The voice brought her back to the present once again. This time she realized it was calling out for help. Doing her best to ignore the aching itchiness all over her, Mary pushed herself up and walked over to her friend.

It wasn't Ib.

The child's hair color was similar, but Mary now realized it was too light of a brown. The red eyes were also similar, but again not quite right. They were too bright, and too... Mary wasn't sure. She only knew such eyes would have looked very out of place on Ib's solemn but kind face.

"You gonna just stand there, or are you gonna help me?"

"Oh! Sorry!" Mary rushed to reply, feeling embarrassed that the stranger had caught her staring. She'd always poked fun at Ib for doing that... "You reminded me of someone, a very important someone. Oh! My name's Mary. What's yours? Are you hurt?"

"I'm Chara, and you could say that." They said, gesturing to their legs. One of them was bent at an unnatural angle.

"Wow, that does look pretty bad."

"No kidding." The other child grumbled. "So you think you could help me out?"

"Well, I guess I could try." Mary said, ringing her hands nervously. That irritated the strange marks; she grimaced and stopped. "I don't know a lot about medical stuff though, and I don't know where anything is around here." Mary looked around. This place wasn't just a cave, it had a structure to it. It had pillars and straight walls further in. She also realized that the yellow and green that had cushioned them was a bed of flowers. The thought of yellow roses and thorny vines entered Mary's mind, and her stomach rolled uncomfortably.

"But someone must live here, so I'll go find them!" Mary sprung away. Ignoring the aching of her skin was more difficult with the excessive motion, and she quickly slowed to a walk. She continued on though, eager to be of help to her new companion (and away from the memory inducing patch of flora). She didn't turn around when Chara called after her.

"Hello!" Mary called, going down a hallway. "Is anybody here? We need help!"

"Um...hello?" The hesitant voice caused Mary to stop. Standing at the top of some stairs was...a furry human? The creature was about the same size as her, with a kind of snout, floppy ears and very soft looking white fur. Mary didn't know what it was, but it wasn't the first time she met a being that didn't look human.

"Hi!" She called walking up to kid. His big eyes widened when she didn't hesitate to approach him. "My name's Mary."

"I'm Asriel." he replied.

"Ooooo, that a nice name, I like it! Do you live here? Do you think you could come back and help this other kid? Their leg is hurt real bad."

"W-well, I don't really live here. I'm just visiting, but Mom knows lots of stuff about healing magic. So she might be able to help."

"Your mom is here? Cool! I'd love to meet her! But I should probably show you where Chara is first." Mary spun around and started heading back, but after a few steps she stopped. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Asriel wasn't following her. He looked confused about something.

"Are you coming?" she prompted. The furry boy hesitated, but still nodded before running after her.

Chara looked surprised when Mary came back into the room with Asriel trailing after her. Mary wasn't sure why, she said she'd come back.

"Look Chara! I found help! He says he doesn't live here, but he said he would still help."

The doubt on the boy's face was replaced with concern at the sight of the injured human, and he quickly knelt down next to Chara.

"Oh, you must have fallen! Are you okay?"

"I've been better." Chara said with a short laugh. "I don't think I can get up on my own though."

"Ok...ok..." the boy muttered, tugging on his floppy ears. "Well, my Mom isn't far from here, and she would know what to do." He looked at the blonde human. "Maybe if we both support one side of them we can get them to the house. Will you help me?"

"Sure!" Mary agreed enthusiastically.

The pair each took one of Chara's hands and, when Chara nodded they were ready, pulled them up. The child cried out in pain as their leg was jostled, and the two assistants quickly ducked under Chara's arms to support her. This transferred the weight off of Chara's leg and onto Asriel and Mary's shoulders.

Mary's shoulder's protested vehemently.

"Ow ow ow ow!" Mary cried out. She ducked out and Asriel had to quickly pull Chara onto himself.

"Mary! Are you okay?"

A memory of Ib's voice briefly rang through Mary's head, and it took her a moment to respond.

"That really made my shoulders hurt! Even more than the rest of me!"

Asriel looked confused, but it dissipated after a minute. His eyes focused on Mary's hands, and then drifted up to her neck and face.

"I see why. Those are weird injuries to get from falling though." Mary's brow furrowed, but she didn't get a chance to say anything before the boy continued. "But, if you can still walk okay, I think I know how we can get through this. Follow me."

Asriel and Chara shuffled off down the corridor, with Mary stiffly trailing behind them. The came to the room with the stairs, which were a challenge to get up. Mary tried to help as best she could, pushing and pulling with her somewhat undamaged hands. When they finally made it to the top and through the door, Mary got to see what Asriel had been talking about.

When she saw that the door ahead of them was closed, she went ahead to open it for her companions. The door wouldn't budge though.

"Asriel, the door won't open!" Mary said with a pout. The fluffy boy smiled in amusement.

"That's because you have to solve the puzzle to get it open."

"Puzzle?"

"Yeah, don't worry though; I know all the answers. see those buttons over there?"

Mary turned, seeing a series of large squarish buttons on the floor. In her rush to be helpful she hadn't even noticed them.

"Step on all the buttons except the middle ones, then flip the switch. That will open the door."

Mary did as instructed, and the door opened smoothly. Asriel smiled warmly at her.

"Good job! I think we'll make a pretty good team."

Mary beamed at the praise, and Chara huffed.

"I'll believe that once you get me to wherever we're going in one piece." Chara said with a teasing tone. The other two laughed.

They went through the rest of the Ruins like that, with Asriel carrying Chara and Mary solving the puzzles. Mary even solved some of the puzzles before Asriel could finish explaining them; the monster was impressed with how easily some of the solutions came to her.

The first monster to approach them was a curious froggit. Both new comers stared at the creature, Chara in apprehension and Mary in fascination. The blonde wished more creatures in the gallery had looked like this, it was so cute!

Asriel took a moment to reassure the frog monster, telling it he was okay and asking it to go ahead and tell his mother they were coming. The monster agreed and quickly hopped off.

They met a few other monsters along the way. Chara showed less surprise each time, and Mary never failed to gush about how sweet or adorable the monster had been. A few monsters were nervous at the sight of the humans, but Asriel's friendly presence was always enough to set them at ease. The way he talked to them, it made Mary think of the way she spoke to the other artworks in the gallery. She wondered if that said something about the position Asriel held in this place.

Mary also wondered about all the puzzles. She'd never realized such things existed Outside, assuming that's where this was. The people who visited the gallery always seemed confused by all the puzzles they came across, so she'd figured such obstacles were rare outside the gallery.

At last, the trio reached their destination.

Asriel lead them to an open room with a barren tree at the center. Past the skeletal branches, Mary could see a cute, tidy little house sitting at the back of the room. It had a door in the middle and a window on each side. Just as they came in, the door opened to reveal a tall fluffy person who bore a strong resemblance to Asriel. The purple dress was so pretty, and they looked so soft. It was like something out of a fairy tale, and Mary loved it.

"My son? What has happened?" the monster's voice was gentle and filled with concern. "This froggit said you had-" the goat-like woman cut herself off when she caught full sight of her son and his companions, her eyes widening in shock.

"I found these two in the ruins Mom. I think they fell from Aboveground. Their both hurt, especially Chara, can you help them?"

"Of course." the mother replied without hesitation, despite her shock. She quickly walked over and knelt down next to Asriel. She carefully took Chara into her arms and beckoned the other two children to follow.

"You both must be so frightened, falling into a place so different from your own world. But worry not, I shall do my best to care for both of you."

The mother's voice was still gentle, but now held the strength of conviction. She lead them into the house and took a right. Asriel ran ahead of her and opened the first door the group came to, which turned out to be a bedroom. The woman entered quickly and laid Chara down on the bed. Despite the mother's best attempts the child's leg was jostled. Chara shrieked in pain, but quickly cut themselves off. The woman murmured apologies as she arranged Chara on the bed; the child clenched their jaw to stop themselves from crying out again. A few moments later the woman whispered a promise to be back soon, and left the room with the other two children in tow.

"It looks like we'll have to come up with another place for you to sleep tonight Asriel." She commented, as the the trio passed a stairway.

"That's okay Mom. They need it more than I do right now."

The woman smiled down at him proudly, and Mary felt a sharp pang of longing and remembrance. A moment later they stopped in a room with a bookshelf, a table, a comfy looking chair, and some stone gap built into the wall.

"Both of you, please stay here. I understand you may be injured as well young human, but I must attend to your friend first. I'll do what I can to heat the house though, the surface's season has brought a chill to the air."

She raised a hand, and the air shifted. Suddenly, a fire blazed to life in the stone gap.

 _Heat. Pain. Heat. Loss. Pain. Crumbling. Heat. Void. Pain._

A high pitched shrieking rend the air. Mary almost didn't realize it was coming from her. Upon sight of the fire, she had immediately covered her face with her arms and started screaming. When she ran out of air she stayed frozen in that position, not daring to look up at the sinister blaze. She shuddered as she gulped in panicked breaths.

"Mary?! What's wrong?!"

The tremble in Asriel's voice showed she wasn't the only one panicking. Fearing to speak, to hear his response, Mary bolted. She ran down the hallway, past Chara's room, a door that wouldn't open, and finally the last door allowed her entrance. She threw it open and slammed the door behind her. She sagged against it once inside. Her body loudly protested her rabid movements, and the friction against the door, but the pounding in Mary's ears drowned it out.

When the blaze appeared, it had all come to the surface. The horrors of the gallery, the new fears that came with this place, it had all surged up, overthrowing her default demeanor. Bubbly denial gave way to panicked anxiety.

 _I should be dead._

 **HE set me on fire.**

 _Why am I not dead?_

 **So much** **pain** **.**

 _Where is this place?_

 **I wanted to be with Ib!**

 _What is it?_

 **I drove her away.**

 _Not outside, can't be, impossible._

 **Bad girl, bad girl, see what you've done?!**

 _What do I do now?_

 **Drove her away.**

 _Never thought this far._

 **I'm a horrible friend.**

 _ **Why does everyone leave?**_

Her thoughts began to spiral out of control, and only got worse when she caught sight of herself in a mirror within the room.

 **Don't look like my painting anymore.** _red veins, like on hands,_ _ **chin**_ _ **cheeks**_.  Never _changed_ before **never**. Tried, couldn't. _W_ _ **ha**_ _t does_ _-_ _wh_ _ **o a**_ _m_ _-_ _wh_ _ **at**_ _am-_

"Mary?" The hesitant voice of Asriel entered the whirlwind of Mary's thoughts. She grabbed at it desperately, using it to ground herself. "I'm real sorry Mary, I thought humans knew about magic! Please don't be scared."

"I'm not scared of magic!" Her voice came out as a rasp after her screaming fit. But at least the indignity caused by the boy's assumption had broken her out of her episode. Her whole world had been infused with magic, she would never be scared of it.

"Really? Then why did you run away like that?"

It took a minute for Mary to answer. She forced herself to calm down, taking deep shuddering breaths.

"I just...I really don't like fire, okay?"

"Okay...I'll try to remember." Asriel sounded relieved, and very earnest. "Um, my Mom's going to want to see you soon. She just getting done healing Chara. Is it okay for her to come in?"

"Yeah...I'm okay now."

"Great! Uh, I'll go let her know."

His footsteps retreated, and there was the sound of a door opening and closing. Mary continued to take deep calming breaths. Coming down from the rush of fear made her body's aches and pains come back to the forefront of her mind. It felt like her skin was once again on fire. She REALLY didn't want to move, but she knew she would have to if anyone was going to come in the door.

"ow ow ow ow ow ow ow!" Mary whimpered as she managed to push herself up. She took a few stiff steps into the room, stopping beside a simple wooden desk. Then she just stood there trying not to move.

Before long Mary heard the opening and closing of a door again. Foot steps approached, and then there was a light knock against the door. Mary turned towards it, wincing as she did so.

"My child? May I come in?"

Mary was struck with the irony of asking to enter a room in your own house. Mary winced again, this time out of guilt.

"Yes, you can."

Mary got one look at the concern in the goat woman's eyes and hung her head. _'Bad girl, bad girl, you make everyone worry.'_

"Asriel told me about your fear of fire. I am sorry for scaring you."

"It's okay." Mary mumbled.

"Well, the best we can do is move past it. My son said you were hurt also. Where do you feel pain?"

"Everywhere."

"Everywhere?"

"I think something is wrong with my skin."

"Hmmm, that is strange. Let me take a look."

Mary felt warm fur touch her palms. Her hands were lifted up, and she let out a small whimper.

"My child?"

"It hurts."

"I can see why, these marks on your hands...are they burns?"

Mary didn't respond.

"They do not look fresh, but they do seem agitated. You said it hurts all over?"

Mary gave a small nod. The woman sighed. She touched the girl's chin, gently tilting it up. Mary was met with a warm smile.

"We were never properly introduced were we child? I am Toriel. I am the caretaker of these Ruins, among other things. May I have your name?"

"...I'm Mary."

"Mary, please know that you are not in trouble. We all have our fears, and it seems you have a very good reason for yours. Now all I want is to heal you. Will you let me?"

Mary felt a pleasant warmth spread through her. There was a deep kindness in Toriel's tone and careful touch. The girl found herself wanting to make this woman happy.

"I'll try." she said with a small smile. Toriel returned it.

"Wonderful, young one. Do you know how long you've had these burns?"

How long had she spent in the nothingness? Did it even matter? Did the time there mean anything?

"I don't remember."

"That's alright Mary. I don't have much experience with the kind of skin you have, but it seems like they were bad burns and only healed over recently. It's no wonder they became agitated on your way here. I believe I have a salve that would work well on them. Combine that with a few healing spells and you should be able to sleep soundly tonight."

Toriel suddenly looked uncertain.

"My child, I do not wish to make you uncomfortable, but I need to be able to treat all the burns. Could you remove your dress while I retrieve the salve?"

"I can do that." Truth be told Mary was becoming quite annoyed with how the fabric was brushing against her sensitive skin.

"Thank you child, I will be back soon." Toriel quickly exited, and Mary went to work removing her outer layers. There was a lot of whimpering involved. By the time Toriel came knocking Mary was standing by the bed in her dress slip. The goat woman stepped through the door, and halted in shock.

Every bit of newly exposed skin was covered in the same branching red burns that covered Mary's hands, neck and face.

"Oh my...you poor child! No wonder you were so afraid of the fire!"

Toriel set down a jar and cloth she'd been carrying and rushed over to help Mary sit down on the edge of the bed. Once the girl was situated, Toriel retrieved her supplies from the desk.

"This may sting a little at first." She took the tip of the cloth and dipped it into the jar, then used it to spread some of the salve onto Mary's check. The girl cringed.

"I am sorry my child, but this will help you heal quickly. Perhaps we could talk while I treat you. Is there anything you'd like to know?"

"Um, could you tell me where we are? And, what exactly this place is?" Mary asked hesitantly. Toriel just smiled patiently.

"I should have guessed you'd want to know that. Chara asked the same thing."

During the rest of the treatment Toriel told the story of how monsters and humans had once lived together on the surface, but had been sealed away underground after losing a war with humanity. The monsters had long suspected it was possible that someone from the surface could fall into the Ruins, since it was one of the few places sunlight reached the Underground.

"You and Chara are the first humans to actually fall down here and prove those suspicions though."

Mary looked away at that comment.

Once Toriel was done with the salve she left to get some bandages. Mary was actually starting to feel sleepy. The salve did sting when first applied, but after it sat for a bit it created a wonderful cooling sensation.

It was amazing, Mary thought. These monsters had been driven from their homes by humans, and here this mother and son didn't hesitate to help two children of that same species. Well, one child of the same species and one who they presumed to be the same species.

Toriel returned with the bandages, which she said would help the salve from rubbing off during the night; as well as protect the more delicate burns. Toriel murmured healing spells as she wrapped up the girl; her soft voice made Mary even more drowsy. Before she knew it Toriel was carefully tucking her into the large bed.

Mary's eyes drifted shut. Just before she fell asleep, she heard voices.

"You can sleep here tonight, so long as you don't move around too much. You'll have to stay above the covers too."

"I'm okay with that Mom, but where are you going to sleep?"

"I'll move the chair from the den into the hallway and sleep in that. If either one of you needs me during the night, don't hesitate to come wake me up."

"Okay Mom, good night!"

"Good night, my child, rest well."

There was a weight beside Mary on the mattress, and a voice beside her said:

"Good night Mary."

The wave of nostalgia brought on by that wish was enough to finally pull Mary under.

* * *

 **A.N.**

This idea wouldn't let me go, so I had to post something for it. I think Mary and Chara are very similar characters at their cores, and I wanted to give them both a second chance. There will be more interaction between the three children in later chapters, as well as some parent bonding between goat mom and goat dad. I hope this serves as a good enough introduction though.  
I also have some ideas for how Mary ended up there, which will also be explained later.

So what do you all think? Was this good? Should I keep going? Reviews and such are appreciated!


	2. Chapter 2

**A.N.**

The reviews, follows, and favorites I've received for this story have filled me with determination! Thanks for the encouragement, I hope you enjoy the new chapter.

* * *

Mary had received many strange wake up calls over the years: painted ladies who needed doors opened, dolls that wanted to play, nearby paintings that had gotten bored...

"Howdy!"

Enthusiastic greeting by a goat boy was definitely a new one though. Mary blinked and looked up at Asriel's furry face with sleepy confusion.

"Sorry I had to wake you up, but Mom says breakfast is going to be ready soon and she always makes the best food ever so I didn't want you to miss out."

It took until Asriel stopped speaking for Mary to remember who exactly he was. Before she could reply there was a knock on the door, and Toriel stepped inside. Surprise flitted across her face at the sight of her son hovering over the girl, but her expression soon turned stern.

"Asriel, I asked you to help Chara to the dinning room, not wake Mary." Asriel hopped off of the bed, looking abashed.

"Sorry Mom, I didn't know you were coming here so soon."

"It's alright my son, just go and help Chara now."

Asriel nodded and dashed out of the room, slightly slamming the door behind him. Toriel's look softened to amused exasperation.

"That boy can be so excitable at times." She murmured to herself, then turned to address Mary. "Good morning little one, did you sleep well?"

"Yes ma'am!"

"Oh goodness, I'm too young to be a ma'am!" the goat woman said with a laugh. "You can just use my name alright? Now, let's get you up and see how those injuries are doing."

Toriel helped ease them up, one arm at the girl's back and another in front for Mary to hold. The girl had braced herself for pain, but none came.

"The pain is gone!" Mary exclaimed, and Toriel smiled.

"Then my salve and spells do work on humans, that is a relief. I was worried, since Chara's leg has not healed as well as I'd hoped. Still, let's take a quick look under the bandages." she unwound some of the bandages from Mary's arms, looking them over critically and humming to herself. The red marks were still there, but they weren't such a vivid shade anymore.

"It looks like your burns will also take a while longer to heal. Hopefully the treatment will keep the pain a bay for the rest of the day, but please try not to strain yourself. It could cause the wounds to act up further."

"When they are healed, will the red marks go away?"

"I am not certain. They might, but there is also a chance that they will improve but never truly vanish."

Mary frowned. She'd been trying to change something about her appearance for years, but this isn't how she'd hoped it would happen. She wanted the change to be her choice.

"Something smells good, is it breakfast?" she asked to change the subject.

"Yes, I decided to make a pie this morning. A little indulgent for breakfast perhaps, but we are celebrating two new arrivals today." Toriel replied with a wink.

Mary had to admit she was excited. She'd never needed to eat before, which was fortunate since the gallery didn't have much food. Trying different kinds of food had been one of the first things she wanted to do if she ever got out.

Toriel retrieved Mary's green dress, black leggings, and brown shoes from a drawer. Mary got dressed quickly, still reveling in being able to move without pain. Toriel helped tie her blue scarf, and then the two were off to the dining room.

"We've got to wait for Mom and Mary."

"But I'm hungry now!"

Asriel and Chara were sitting at the table, both wearing stripped sweaters of differing colors. Asriel was in green and yellow, just like yesterday, while Chara now sported red and blue. Asriel sat at the end of the table while Chara took up the middle seat to his right. The human's leg had a splint on it, and was being propped up by a chair on the other side of the table.

"It's probably still too hot to eat anyway."

"Actually," Toriel interrupted. "by now it should be just right."

All three children beamed. Toriel ushered Mary into the chair on Chara's right, then disappeared into the kitchen. She reappeared a minute later with a pie, plates, and forks. Under the eager gazes of the children she expertly cut the pie into equal pieces and served up a piece for each of them as well as herself. Chara dove into their pie immediately, while Asriel and Mary both waited until everyone was served.

Mary hesitated, suddenly realizing she'd never done this before. She looked out of the corner of her eye at the other two children, and then at Toriel. She took note of how they held their forks, and then picked up her own. She took a clumsy bite, and practically melted in her chair. It was _so good!_ It was warm and sweet and gooey and _yum_!

"It's nice to see you both enjoy my cooking." Toriel laughed and Asriel smiled. "Butterscotch pie is Asriel's favorite you know. Now, we need to discuss..."

A part of Mary realized it was rude not to be listening to her host. But she was so caught up in the wonderful taste that the words began to drift away. Someone encroaching on her personal space brought her out of it though. She looked to her left and saw that Chara was leaning on her. Having eaten so fast, they were already done with their piece and were now looking for more. Mary hunched over her plate and scooted away from them. Chara leaned over further, and Mary had to bat away their fork. Mary scooted over again, and Chara leaned further still. When they tried to sneak another bite Mary pushed them back, Chara growled and-

"Children!"

The pair straightened and looked up. Toriel had her arms crossed and was looking at them sternly, while Asriel was trying not to laugh.

"Did the two of you hear anything I just said?" The rather abashed looks on their faces was enough of an answer. "I will explain again, but this is important information and you both must pay attention. And Chara, do try to be more careful. If you leaned over much further your hurt leg would have slipped off the chair."

"Yes Miss Toriel." They both said. Mary sounded guilty, whereas Chara's sounded a bit forced.

"Can I have some more pie?" Chara asked.

"Yes, but we have to talk about plans for the rest of the day first. I'll dish up seconds after that."

The brunette huffed and looked displeased. Seeing this, Asriel wordlessly cut off a section of his own slice and transferred it to Chara's plate. They started at it in utter befuddlement. Toriel took advantage of the silence to start over.

"I was explaining that Asriel and I do not live here on a daily basis. It's a bit of a second home, if you will. Today I want to start the journey back home, where my husband is waiting for us."

"Is this guy really going to be okay with you bringing two human kids home with you?" Chara asked skeptically, catching Mary fidget out of the corner of her eye.

"Oh I'm sure he will be surprised, but I'm confidant that he will welcome you with open arms. Asgore can be a bit bumbling, but he is also exceedingly kind." Toriel said with a fond smile. Chara nodded, but didn't look entirely convinced. Asriel, in response to his mother's dreamy tone, quietly pretended to gag. Chara was successfully distracted, and had to hide their smirk behind a hand.

"We will journey to a town called Snowdin, and take a ferry from there. That should deliver us close to home. However, before we leave I wish to have a quick lesson in monster interaction."

"Lesson? Like in school?" Chara asked, a note of disdain in her voice. Mary perked up at the though, she'd never been to school before! Asriel smiled and shook his head though.

"Nah, it's not like that. We just want to make sure you know how things work around here. Mom and Dad did the same thing with me a couple of years ago."

"That's a good point Asriel." Toriel looked thoughtful. "Do you think you could help them with it? There are still a few things I wish to get ready."

"Really?" Asriel asked excitedly. "Yeah! I can do it!"

"Excellent, my child, thank you. We'll start when everyone is done eating."

Everyone had seconds, which meant the pie was all gone. Once the dishes had been washed and put away Toriel picked up Chara and carried them out the front door; Asriel and Mary followed closely behind. The area looked much the same as it had the previous day, with one exception. A stuffed dummy with one button eye stood in front of the large black tree. The goat woman lead them right to it.

"You can handle it from here my son?" Toriel asked.

"Just leave it to me Mom!" Asriel proclaimed, puffing up his chest proudly. Toriel chuckled.

"Very well, I shall be inside if you need me."

Toriel gently placed Chara on the ground, and Asriel quickly rushed in to support them while Mary hovered close by. Once she saw that the children were situated, Toriel turned and disappeared back into the house.

"So what do we do now?" Mary asked.

"I'm going to show you what to do if you ever get into a FIGHT with a monster."

"A fight? Other monsters are going to hurt us?" Chara asked, now leaning away from Asriel a bit. He backpedaled quickly.

"Well, not exactly. I mean, you'll be with Mom and me, but some monsters can spook real easy. Since you're human, if they catch you on your own they might be afraid and think they have to attack you. That's how a FIGHT would start. Most monsters are real nice though, and if you talk to them and give them a chance to calm down then they'll leave you alone."

"So you're going to teach us how to make friends." Mary happily surmised.

"Yeah, that's right." Asriel beamed back at her. Chara looked a tad suspicious still. "Why don't you give it a shot Mary? Walk up to the dummy, and when you get close enough a bunch of choices will pop up in front of you. Choose the one that says ACT, and try talking to the dummy."

Mary nodded and walked over to the dummy. Once she got within a few steps of it, everything went dark. Mary halted, suddenly fearful. What had happened? Where had the Ruins gone? And Asriel and Chara? The only thing they could see was the dummy...and the void.

"Asriel?! Chara?!" She cried.

"What's her problem?" Chara's voice was distant, but it helped relieve some of Mary's fear. She wasn't alone here.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Asriel exclaimed. "Mary, it's okay! The darkness is normal, it just means the fight has started. Only people who are involved with it can see what is really going on."

Mary sighed in relief.

"Can you see the options yet? What about your soul?"

Mary frowned, and was about to ask him what he meant, when she felt a tugging at her chest. She suddenly felt lighter, and then something warm and glowing appeared in front of her. After a moment the glow began to compact and became a single bit of light. She examined it curiously. The light had a shape to it, and it took her a moment to realize what it was. It was a heart! It was upside down, but still a heart.

Was that her soul? It must have been. For a moment, Mary was completely overwhelmed with happiness and relief. **She had a soul**. She had always wondered if she actually did...

Her soul shined a delicate pink, and Mary decided she liked it very much.

Large orange words suddenly popped up in front of Mary and her soul, and she was reminded that Asriel was waiting for an answer. She quickly wiped at her face, which had somehow become wet.

"I can see them now." she called out, voice a little shaky. "What do I do with them?"

"They work like buttons. Press the one you want."

Mary nodded to herself, looking at the options available. Asriel said to ACT right? She tried pressing it with her hand, but it didn't work. Her soul had moved a bit when she tried though. After a moment of thought, she focused on the upside down heart and envisioned it over the second option. She smiled when it appeared next to the word she wanted. She thought of pressing down and the ACT command was selected, making words appear above the button. More options? The two words were 'check' and 'talk'. She chose 'talk'. When nothing else happened, she guessed the dummy was waiting for her to follow through with her choice.

"I like the color of your button. Did you lose the other one? Maybe I could help you find a new one."

She waited for the dummy to respond. But it didn't say anything. She waited longer, but soon the darkness was dissipating and the room came back into focus. She looked around and saw Chara and Asriel standing right where she had left them.

"Good job!" Asriel congratulated. She wasn't sure why he was so pleased, the dummy hadn't even answered her question! Had she said something bad? Still, the goat boy seemed to think all was well. Maybe the dummy just couldn't talk very well, some of the paintings had been like that.

"You ready to try Chara?"

"I guess so, think I'll look as funny as Mary did?" The human smirked at her; Mary huffed and crossed her arms.

"It looks more normal when you actually battle during the FIGHT. Then you can see people dodging and kicking instead of just standing there." Asriel explained as he helped Chara over. "I've seen my Dad training some of the Royal Guard members, and they always look awesome!"

Mary moved out of the way and Asriel got Chara into position. Once they were stable Asriel backed up a bit and stood by Mary.

"Whoa..." Chara said, looking around themselves and then staring straight ahead. After a minute of stillness they spoke, a little uncertainly.

"Hey. Um, nice weather we've been having." A few moments later they looked around until they found Asriel and Mary. "So, are we good now?"

"Yup! You both did great!" Asriel said. He let Chara lean on him, and they started moving back toward the house. Mary opened the door ahead of them.

"So that heart was supposed to be my soul right?" Chara asked, and Asriel nodded. "Huh, kind of cliché that it was red."

"Yours was red?" Mary questioned from the door. "Mine was pink, like ballet slippers, but red sounds pretty too."

"You guys got different colors? That sound so cool! Mom and Dad always said that all souls were white."

"Maybe that's just for monsters then." Chara suggested, looking thoughtful as they entered the house.

"Mom! We're all done!"

"Excellent timing children, I have gathered the last few things we need." Toriel had just exited her room and was walking toward them, carrying four bundles of fabric in her arms. When she reached them, she handed each of them a bundle and kept one for herself. Mary unfolded hers, and found it to be a long purple coat, the same shade as Toriel's dress. There was a knit cap and mittens folded inside too. She looked at the other children and saw they had the same thing, only in green.

"It will be quite cold on the way to Snowdin, so I found some old clothes of ours for the two of you. I just got done making some repairs and adjustments to them. I don't have anything for your feet I'm afraid, so your own shoes will have to do."

"It's alright. Thank you Miss Toriel." Mary said.

"Uh,yeah, thanks. These are great, but am I really going to walk or be carried the whole way?" Chara asked warily.

"Worry not, I have found a solution to that as well. I can show you, if you'll let me carry you down the stairs."

Chara hesitated, but nodded. Toriel smiled and helped Chara balance as all three children donned the warmer clothes. Mary's was a bit loose on her, but at least it didn't drag on the ground as she suspected it might. Once all three were done, Asriel resumed the role of crutch so Toriel could get her own purple coat on. When she was done she carefully scooped up Chara and lead the other two children down the stairs.

* * *

 **A.N.**

My thanks to fanfiction author ImagInarI, whose suggestion that Mary would try to seriously talk to the dummy helped inspire this chapter.

I was originally going to include more in this chapter, but it ended up getting longer than expected so I cut it short. That's okay though, it just means I'll be able to get a quicker start on the next chapter!

Just like in the game, I've decided the color of Mary's soul signifies a specific quality. Just like red=determination, dark blue=integrity and such. Does anyone have a guess at what light pink means?


	3. Chapter 3

Toriel lead them down a long violet hallway. Mary found herself missing the warm, inviting feeling of the house within minutes, and hoped that it wouldn't take long to reach their new destination.

"How long is this frickin' hallway?"

At least there was plenty to distract her in the mean time. Chara's complaint echoed slightly, and the child squirmed in Toriel's grip. The goat woman remained unfazed.

"Patience young one, we're almost there." The group turned a corner. "See? The doors are just up ahead."

A large pair of wooden doors stood at the end of the hallway. As they approached, Toriel shifted the human she carried to free up one of her arms. She ran a furry hand down the center crease of the doors before pushing against them. There was a barely audible thrum and both doors started to drift open. Mary bounced on her feet and tried to look around the tall monster, eager for her first view of what existed outside the Ruins. A laugh came from beside her.

"We're not going outside just yet Mary." Asriel said.

Mary deflated a bit and stopped bouncing. Still, she was quick to follow Toriel through the doors once they opened completely. The scene before them made Mary think of the room she had first woken up in. Most of the room was dark but there was a single circle of sunlight near the center of the room. The spotlight illuminated a patch of grass, upon which sat something Mary had never seen before. It looked sort of like a table, with metal legs and a wooden top. It was too short to really serve as one though, and most tables didn't have connected legs, or tops that tilted upward on one end, or came with ropes attached. Her curiosity about the object was strong enough that Mary ignored her desire to run over and bask in the sunlight in favor of examining it.

"Wow, a sled! That's clever Mom. When did you get one?"

"I sent a migosp to fetch it from town last night. He seemed delighted at the idea of staying up so late."

Toriel continued to talk as she set Chara down on wooden surface. Mary didn't register the words though, because she was stuck on what Asriel had said. A 'sled', some of her story books and mentioned sleds. Sleds were used for going down big hills covered in-

Realization struck Mary. Ignoring the shouts of her companions, Mary ran to the only other doors in the room. The double doors were too heavy for her to open them both, but her burst of excitement gave her the strength to move one of them. Mary gasped in awe at what she saw.

Snow! She'd never seen snow, just read about it in her books, but that's what this had to be. Nearly everything was covered in a white powder that seemed to glow in the low light of the Underground. Her gaze darted around, taking it all in, from the barren trees to the snow that just managed to cover her shoes. She noticed that some of the white power glittered when she looked at it just right, and that sparkle was reflected in her own eyes when her imagination took hold. The snow held the imprint of her feet when she took a few steps, so she could use to draw little pictures, or make big designs that could only be seen from the treetops! She bent down and scooped up a handful of snow, wondering if it would stick together like clay or shift around like dust. She packed and poked it experimentally, and was utterly delighted when it managed to do both under the right circumstances. If she was careful enough, she could probably make sculptures out of it.

The sound of the doors opening broke Mary out of her reverie. She clutched the ball of packed snow to her chest and turned around with a smile so big it was starting to make her face hurt.

"My child! Please do not go running off on your own, you could get hurt."

"Yeah, with the way you ran out here you'd think you'd never seen snow before." Asriel said with a laugh.

"I haven't." She said quietly, almost reverently. The goat boy's eyes widened and his jaw went a little slack.

"Really?" Chara asked in disbelief. They were now settled on the sled, their feet forward and their back supported by the inclined end. The ends of the rope were attached to the metal by their feet, and Toriel held the middle of the rope in her hand so she could pull the child along.

"No, not ever! But it's so amazing! It sticks to everything and it's like dust and clay at the same time and it's so sparkly and I wanna make stuff with it!"

Toriel, who before had been nearly as surprised as her son, suddenly looked mischievous.

"I see, so you've discovered that snow it _pretty cool_." There was a beat of silence, before Asriel gripped the base of his ears and wailed.

"Mooooom! Dooon't!"

"Come now Asriel, don't be so _cold_ just because of a silly little joke."

"Mom!"

" _Icy_ was you did there." Chara commented with a sly grin.

"Not you too! Mary!" He turned to the blond. "You've gotta help me! If you join me they can't take the majority and we'll be able to stand against them."

Mary stared at the three of them in confusion. She wasn't sure what, but she felt like she was missing something. She understood Asriel's request well enough, but how could she help him? She looked down at the snow in her hand. The next moment the little ball was sailing through the air and then disintegrating against Chara's chest. The two monsters snickered at the affronted look on Chara's face; then the human narrowed their eyes.

"Oh, it's on!"

Chara leaned over and scooped up a handful of snow. She quickly crushed it together and hurled it at Mary, who just managed to dodge it. Asriel laughed, but stopped when something cold and crumbly smacked his ear.

"Hey! What did I do?" He demanded to a smirking Chara. To the boy's surprise, his mother also smiled.

"I do believe it was you who organized the teams Asriel."

From there, things quickly developed into a whirlwind of laughter and flying snow. Mary and Asriel both took cover in the trees, each taking their own shots and covering each other when one of them ran out of ammo. Toriel and Chara took a different approach. The goat woman hunkered down next to the sled and focused on making snowballs while Chara threw them. It was a surprisingly good system, since Chara was hardly ever without something to throw. Even when Asriel and Mary tag teamed them the two children had a hard time taking them on, especially since Chara was amazingly accurate.

Toriel eventually called the game to a close, saying that they had to get going if they wanted to reach town before it got too late. Though the suddenness of the stop might have had something to do with the fact that Chara kept 'forgetting' about Toriel's 'no head shots' rule. The children gradually came down from their exercise high as the group made their way down the snowy trail; Toriel in the lead pulling Chara with Asriel and Mary strolling behind the sled. Mary couldn't remember the last time she had felt so genuinely satisfied. Her mood hadn't even been dampened when Toriel stopped her from making a snow angel, the goat woman saying that much friction could irritate her burns. Mary's skin was starting to feel itchy again, so she had gone along with it.

"You're really lucky to have a Mom as great as Toriel." Mary commented quietly. She saw Chara nod slightly.

"I know." Asriel replied, gazing at his mother's back with clear affection. Mary felt that pang in her chest again, and looked away. "So what are you're own parents like?"

"None of your business." Chara immediately responded. Asriel looked taken aback, but did his best to hide it.

"Oh, okay, that's fair enough, I guess. What about you Mary?" He noticed her looking away from everyone. "Mary?" No response. "You don't have to talk about it..."

"I...it's just that, I've never really had a mother. I had a father...but he's been gone for a while now."

"Golly, I'm sorry Mary." The girl gave a little shrug, suddenly lacking the energy to do much more. The group fell silent. After a minute of contemplation, Asriel came up with a question. He took another minute to bolster his courage before voicing it.

"So, if you're parents weren't around, who was taking care of you?"

"Well, I had siblings, in a way."

"Oh, okay."

Throughout this entire exchange, Toriel stayed quiet and didn't let on that she could hear their conversation.

* * *

"What's that little wooden building for?"

The long silence after Mary's revelation made her eager to come up with a new topic of conversation. As much as she enjoyed just taking in the beautiful landscape around her, Mary had also had enough silence to last her a lifetime.

"That is one of the sentry stations for the Royal Guard. I know we haven't seen much of anyone today, but there are actually quite a few monsters that live in this area. So members of the Royal Guard are stationed at different points, to be available if anyone needs them."

"Their like the police then." Chara commented.

To be honest, Mary understood the concept of a royal guards much better than the idea of police. A lot of her fairy tale books had guards in them after all. She still nodded when Chara spoke though, not wanting to display her lack of knowledge. She filled her mind with unrelated questions instead of dwelling on it. Where were the monsters that lived here? And where was the guard if his station was here?

"Oh look, we've just caught him returning from a patrol." Toriel commented. Looking ahead, Mary could see a strangely shaped figure in the distance. As they got closer, she could tell that the person seemed to be covered in both metal and white fur. The strange shape was because the shield the guard carried was as tall as the guard himself, and a long sword stuck out from his hip to drag along the ground.

"You're guard is a dog?" Chara asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?" Asriel asked, his little brow furrowed in confusion.

"Dogs aren't sen-"

"Hi mister!" Mary interrupted whatever Chara had been about to say and ran up to the approaching guardsman. "I'm Mary. What's your name?"

The guard barked several times, short and sharp. Mary tilted her head, looking up at the guard in confusion. Thankfully the pair was saved from potential miscommunication by Toriel.

"I'm afraid that that language of dogs can be a bit hard to understand at first, my child; so let me introduce you. Mary, this is Lesser Dog. Lesser Dog, this is Mary. The child on the sled is named Chara, and you remember by son Asriel."

"Hi LD!" The boy called out.

Lesser dog yipped happily. Mary beamed and reached her hand up, but hesitated. Was it okay to pet a guard? The guards in her books were usually polite, but also pretty stiff. Would he get mad if she touched him? Lesser Dog answered that question before she could come up with the words to ask it. When he saw her hand reach up, he stretched his neck down so his head met her fingers. Mary jumped a little at the sudden movement, but soon she was giggling and scratching him behind the ears. Toriel watched them with fondness, while Asriel snickered at Chara's slack-jawed expression. They smacked his shoulder.

"How does that not hurt him?" They asked, bewildered.

"That's just how he is." Asriel said with a shrug. Chara didn't look satisfied but didn't question further. Asriel smirked then, and went up to pet Lesser Dog. The Guard's neck stretched out even further. As he pet the dog, Asriel looked over his shoulder. This time both he and Mary laughed when Chara's eyes bugged out.

The guard's neck returned to normal when Toriel started to speak with him and explain where they were going. He barked at her a few times, and she started to protest something.

"Oh no, that's really not necessary."

More barking.

"We'll be fine on our own, and I wouldn't want to take you away from your post."

The most barking.

"Well, I suppose we would get there quicker that way, which would be best for the children. Very well then." Lesser Dog yipped and bounded down the trail ahead of them.

"What was that all about?" Chara asked when they began to follow him.

"LD is going to escort us to Snowdin, right Mom?"

"That's right my son, you're dog speak is improving greatly!" Asriel's blush was just visible through is fur.

Snowballs became popular once again. When Lesser Dog ran ahead to solve a puzzle for them he was often sidetracked by chasing after snowballs thrown by one of the children. He often didn't return with the same bit of snow they had thrown, but nobody minded too much.

After crossing what appeared to be a bridge (Mary knew a painting when she saw one), they finally reached their destination.

It was ironic, how a town built in a place so cold could feel so warm. A lovingly handmade banner welcomed them to the town; it was a fine prequel to the main street. Light spilled out from the windows of small building, encouraging any who passed by to come closer and say hello. The people that walked the single street turned that encouragement into outright invitation. The multitude of monsters that were out and about greeted them with a smile and conversation the moment the group came into sight. The simple design of the buildings and linear layout of the town could have been boring, but when combined with the monster's friendliness it became cozy.

Toriel must have been someone well known, Mary now realized, because once word got around that she was there the group amassed a crowd of monsters. The monsters greeted the goat woman warmly and they all had different questions to ask her. It was when they were just outside of a place called 'Grillby's' that the group could move no further due to the crowd. It was at this same point that Toriel adopted a look similar to the exasperated amusement she'd shown Asriel, and decided to stop for a while and talk to everyone. Asriel stood beside her, straightening up and doing his best to look important.

Mary gazed at the group with wide-eyed fascination. It wasn't until she saw this, a thriving town with a variety of talkative monsters, that it truly sunk it that Mary was in a new world. The Ruins, while of course being different from the gallery, had shared many similarities to her place of origin. It was small, there were puzzles, and the majority of its residents couldn't hold a conversation well. But now there was a whole town full of creatures that were just like her, aside from appearance.

When she was in the gallery, she'd read every storybook there was available to her. When she ran out she started making up her own stories. She came up with wondrous back stories for herself and the painting characters, and amazing adventures she could go on with them. But now she wouldn't have to rely on imagination for everything. These were real people here! They had lives and stories and adventures of their own, and she wanted to hear all about them!

While Mary had her revelation, Chara was peering into the the nearby building. Their sled had been left right by windows, and it didn't take long for them to grow tired of watching the crowd. The bar like interior was pretty empty, most likely because everyone was outside talking to Toriel, but there was one monster still inside. Taking in the monster's form, Chara's lips curled into a malicious smirk. She wiped it off before turning away from the window.

"Hey Mary?" They called out. The girl turned to them, looking slightly dazed. "I'm really thirsty, but I don't wanna bother Toriel when she has so many people to talk to. I'm pretty sure this place is a restaurant though, could you run in and see if they have any water?"

"Uh, sure." Mary reluctantly agreed. She didn't want to miss what was happening, but she also didn't want to make Chara mad at her. Mary walked up the short flight of steps and knocked twice on the door before pushing it open. There was a small jingle as she stepped inside. She didn't get more then a couple steps in before she noticed the monster standing behind the counter. She froze, taking in the white eyes and the flickering flames that surrounded them.

A moment later a scream erupted from within Grillby's. Mary burst out of the door, still screaming, and ran to Chara. She fell to her knees and threw her arms around the human, crying and burying her face in their chest.

"What the- hey!" Chara wriggled in Mary's grip. The girl just held tighter, her scream having dissolved into trembling sobs.

"My child! Mary what's wrong?"

Toriel was there, kneeling next to the pair and running a soothing paw across Mary's back. The jingle of a bell caused Toriel to look up. She saw the restaurant owner, a flame monster named Grillby, standing hesitantly in the doorway. Well, that explained a lot. She waved him back inside; he nodded and disappeared.

"Mary, dear, let's get out of the cold for a while alright?" She tried to gently pry Mary off of Chara, but the girl's grip just tightened further. She also started murmuring something, but Toriel couldn't hear what she was saying. "Very well, how about we compromise. You can sit here on the sled with Chara, and Asriel will bring you to a safe place, alright?"

Mary didn't say anything, but she moved to sit on the edge of the sled. Toriel took it as acceptance.

"Asriel, dear, please take them to the library. I'll join you in a few minutes."

"Okay Mom."

Asriel took the rope and began to tow the sled toward the brick building across the road. Once the children were far enough away, Toriel let out a heavy sigh and turned to address the concerned group of monsters.

* * *

After seeing the man of fire, Mary had a hard time remembering her surroundings. Some part of her brain managed to guide her back to the last friend she'd talked to, but everything else was a blur. Memories of heat, pain, and nothingness consumed her.

She became aware of a voice speaking to her, and she tried to clamp onto it like before. But two words resonated within her, and sent her reeling back into her memories.

" _what's wrong?"_

The voice that spoke and the voice she heard were not the same.

"What's wrong? Whaaat's wrrrooonnnggg? Mary's wrong, all wrong, wrong wrong wrong."

Mary wasn't sure how loud she was speaking, or if she was even speaking at all. She felt something try to pull her away from her friend, but she resisted and tightened her grip.

"No, no, said we'd be together, don't leave, want to be together." Mary murmured into her friend's coat.

The voice spoke again, and this time Mary was able to grasp it a little better. It was enough for her to understand that doing what the voice said meant that Mary wouldn't have to leave her friend, so she complied. She felt herself moving, but without the voice to distract her she slipped back into her frenzied thoughts.

 _'Why couldn't you have been good?! Their going to leave you forever!'_

"It's dangerous to stay with her."

"What are you doing Mary?!"

 **'Father! Don't leave me!'**

 _'bad girl, bad girl...'_

"Mary?"

Asriel's voice broke through once again.

"Mary, we're inside now, away from all the other monsters. It's okay now please...don't cry."

Mary finally moved, tilting her head up. They were in a place with lots of books. Books were good, she liked books. Her eyes drifted to the left, where she'd heard Asriel's voice come from. He stood between the sled and a tall counter, tugging on his ear with one hand and using the other to grip his sweater.

Still hiccuping with sobs, Mary reached out and took the hand Asriel had clenched in his shirt. She held it tightly, and looked into his worried eyes.

"D-don't leave." She managed to say.

"Okay, okay I won't." Asriel assured her, shifting his hand so the grip was mutual. They stayed like that for several minutes, quietly waiting for their guardian to return and Mary's cries to silence. The latter had almost happened by the time the former did.

Toriel entered the library braced for the worst. She was relieved to find Mary wasn't crying her eyes out anymore, but could tell the child hadn't completely recovered from their panic. Toriel sat cross-legged on the floor beside Asriel, and gave Mary a kind smile.

"Hello my child, how are you feeling?"

"Bit better." she mumbled. "I'm sorry."

"Whatever for?"

"I...I was bad. I scared all the other monsters and- and I probably embarrassed you, and I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was bad." Mary looked to be on the verge of tears again. Toriel shushed her and opened her arms in invitation. It took Mary a minute to decide, but she disentangled herself from Chara and Asriel and went to sit in Toriel's lap, gripping Toriel's coat the moment she was settled. The mother wrapped her arms around Mary, strong and protective.

"You aren't bad Mary, not for this. You didn't scare the other monsters, they were just worried about you. They thought you might be hurt, and they were all very understanding after I talked to them. Plus, it takes a lot more than a loud child to embarrass me." She ruffled Mary's hair a bit, and the girl let out a breathy giggle. "You aren't bad, you just need a little help, and I will provide as much as I can."

"Me too!" Asriel said earnestly, and Mary gave him a watery smile.

Chara sat silently, watching the scene. No one noticed how their lips quirked up into a little smug smirk.

* * *

 **A.N.**

Well, that chapter became a bit of an emotional roller coaster.

I tried to make some reference to the meaning of Mary's soul color in this chapter. As pixys on AO3 suggested, her soul trait is IMAGINATION. I like to think that the soul colors represent the trait that has helped a person most in getting through life's struggles. For Mary's trait I flip flopped between Hope and Creativity for quite a while, but then decided that Imagination embodied the best of both traits.

Here is the image reference I used for the sled. Just imagine it with some simple metal runners and the ropes on the other end and you'll have an idea of what I was going for in the story.

wiki/Sledding#/media/File:Wooden_ (tag it onto the end of wikipedia's main site)

Also, someone did lyrics to Mary's theme from the game. Listening to them helped inspire the way I write Mary. Here's the end of the youtube link: watch?v=989srijf4OA&app=desktop

Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome. Thanks so much for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

Toriel must have said something to the other monsters about pressuring the children, because when the group finally emerged from the library nobody stopped to talk to them. At least, Mary hoped that was the reason everyone was avoiding them now.

Mary clung tightly to Toriel's paw, reveling in both the soft texture and the sense of safety it provided. The goat woman's other hand held the rope for the sled that still held Chara, and Asriel padded along beside it.

"I was able to send a message to the River Person before I came to get you, so the ferry should be waiting for us now." Toriel said, leading the group northward.

It struck Mary as odd that they would go this direction, which in and of itself was rather odd. The way to Snowdin had involved a few ups and downs, but ultimately they always went East, even in the Ruins. Mary had believed that they would keep going that way until they reached their final destination. By the looks of things, maybe she wasn't entirely wrong.

Once they passed the last of Snowdin's houses Mary could see running water ahead of them. That must be the river, and the cloaked being floating in the long wooden thing in the water was, by extension, the River Person. Mary gazed at the water curiously as they arrived at the bank. Toriel let go of Mary's hand to help Chara off of the sleigh, and the blonde knelt down to study yet another new phenomenon. She startled a bit when she saw eyes staring back at her, only to realize they were her own. Her reflection was dark and wavy, and looking at it made Mary uncomfortable. It was like running paint, the lines blurring and the colors mixing together...

 _ **BYE BYE MARY**_

Mary shot up and stumbled away from the bank. The terrible memory didn't consume her this time around, but it had come on swiftly and painfully. Thankfully, it left just as quickly and there was still plenty to distract her.

Toriel had Chara in her arms and was just stepping into the boat. With a murmured apology she placed a hand on top of the River Person's head to steady herself, but the cloaked figure didn't seem to mind at all. The goat woman carefully settled herself at the rear of boat, and then held a hand out to the two on the shore.

"Be careful stepping into the boat children, it can be a bit wobbly and the water is very cold."

Asriel rolled his eyes and reminded his mother that this wasn't his first time on the ferry. Toriel smiled and agreed, but she kept her hand out anyway and the boy still took it. Mary, on the other hand, took the advice to heart. She was already a little dubious of the boats ability to keep so many people from sinking, and her scare at the bank hadn't helped matters. She already knew she burned like a painting, she had no desire to find out if she could be washed away like one as well. She approached the boat with hesitant steps, and gripped Toriel's hand tightly when it was offered to her. She took her first step in, and gasped when the boat dipped from her weight.

"Deep breaths, my child. I won't let you fall." Toriel's soothing voice took away some of Mary's fear, and she dared to take her other foot off the shore. She collapsed onto the middle bench of the boat, next to Asriel.

"Are we leaving the sled here?" The goat boy asked. His mother nodded.

"Yes, it won't be of much use where we are going. Those runners are designed for snow, not rock or floors, and it isn't a far walk from the ferry point."

Chara looked distinctly uncomfortable at the mention of having to be carried more, and leaned away from Toriel a bit. Once they realized this put them in closer proximity to Mary they shifted back.

"All going to Hotland?" The cloaked figure spoke for the first time. Toriel gave an assenting nod.

"I know it's a bit far with this many, but if you would be so kind."

"Of course, tra la la! I do love to ride in my boat."

With that the boat started to move, seemingly of it's own accord. Mary twisted in her seat to look back at the River Person; the monster hadn't changed their stance or position at all. The only time this changed was when they turned their head from side to side to study the river. When they started looking ahead again, Mary took the opportunity to speak up.

"So, what's you're name?"

"I am the riverman. Or am I the riverwoman...? It doesn't really matter."

 _'Well, if that doesn't matter to them, than it probably shouldn't matter to me either.'_ Mary thought to herself. She frowned. Still, that didn't really answer her question...

"I guess not, but what about your name?"

"My name? … It doesn't really matter..." The girl's frown deepened.

"But...it's your name! How can it not matter?"

"The same way it does not matter if I am the riverman or riverwoman."

Mary let out an annoyed huff and turned back around. During the brief conversation Asriel had started running his paw through the water on his side of the boat, creating extra waves and ripples as they went.

"Cool." Chara commented, watching him. They leaned over to get a better look at what Asriel was doing, and Toriel adjusted her grip to make sure the child was fully supported. "Can I try?"

"I fear the boat may become unbalanced if you both lean over the same side like that. Perhaps you could try on the other side."

"But then mine will get messed up when Mary starts to do it." Chara argued.

"It's okay." Mary interjected. "I don't want to try it."

Toriel frowned in confusion and Chara gave Mary a suspicious look, but after a moment the child shrugged and sat back up. Toriel helped them sit beside her in a way that didn't aggravate their hurt leg, and Chara started playing with the water. Toriel kept one hand placed behind Chara, ready to grab the child if they became unbalanced.

"Dang, that really is cold!" Chara pulled their hand back after a bit, shaking it to get the blood flowing again.

"You think so?" Asriel asked, looking up. "I guess I can't feel it as much through my fur."

"You sure about that?"

"What do you-!" Asriel let out a high pitched bleat when Chara swiped their hand down and sent water splashing over the goat boy. He started at the human in shock, and Chara giggled.

"Sounds like you can feel it after all."

It took a moment, but Asriel's expression morphed into a playful grin.

"Oh yeah? Well so can you!"

Asriel scooped up a pawful of water and tossed it at Chara. The way the water clung to his fur caused droplets to be flung in all directions. Mary flinched back, but some still landed on her hands and clothes. She held her breath, and let out a sigh of relief when the water simply beaded and clung to her skin. She was so relieved that she hardly noticed when the splash fight started to rock the boat.

"Tra la la." The River person's sing song voice interrupted them. "Playing in a boat is great fun, but a danger."

"He makes a good point children." Toriel gave the two meaningful looks. Asriel obediently straightened up and, after a put upon sigh, Chara followed suit. The two didn't have long to mope however. Within a few minutes the boat began to slow, and the River person steered toward a patch of shore that was opposite from the side they'd boarded. Mary's eyes were immediately drawn to the approaching bank, curious to know where they were going. She was also curious about the hulking purple monster that was standing on the shore.

As the boat neared the bank, Mary realized the monster itself wasn't actually purple. A flowing purple robe was draped over the monster's shoulders, held in place by gold shoulder pads and a clasp that bore a strong resemblance to the design on Toriel's dress. The monster was covered in white fur, like Toriel and Asriel, for the most part. There was some golden brown fur that made it look like the monster had a beard. Once the boat had come to a stop Toriel smiled warmly at the new monster.

"I see news of our departure from the Ruins has traveled quickly." Toriel teased.

"That is the way of news in the Underground, as you well know my dear." The monster returned the smile, which helped alleviate his intimidating presence. It was good to know the monster was friendly with Toriel, considering he was both taller and broader than her. It wasn't by much, but still.

"Howdy Dad!" Asriel piped up. Both Mary and Chara's eyes widened. _'Dad?'_

"Howdy to you too Asriel." The monster man said with a chuckle. Toriel took it upon herself to explain.

"Children, this is my husband, Asgore. Darling, these are the two humans Asriel found in the Ruins, Chara and Mary."

"It is a pleasure to meet you, little ones." Asgore said with a quick bow of his head. He knelt down, making himself eye level with Toriel, who was still sitting in the boat. "Now, let's get home and put this journey to an end." He offered a hand to whomever wanted to get out first.

"Could you carry Chara dear? Their leg hasn't completely healed yet."

Asgore nodded, and slowly moved to pick up Chara, giving the human time to object. Chara stiffened, but made no attempt to protest. Asgore took this as approval, and carefully lifted the child. Once Chara was out of the boat, Toriel and Asriel got up. Mary held tightly to her seat as the boat wobbled with their shifting weight. Mary gratefully took Toriel's hand when it was offered, and stumbled onto the shore. She sighed a little once she was out, relieved to be on stable land again.

"It's warmer here." Mary voiced the sudden realization. The boat had so preoccupied her she had failed to notice the gradual change.

"Indeed, my child. We have reached an area of the Underground known as Hotland, which is where the city New Home is located. That is where we live."

"Clever names." Chara said, more than a little sarcastically. For some reason, Asgore looked abashed while his wife and son smirked.

"Anyway," Toriel quickly regained her usual demeanor. "as the name implies, Hotland is a very hot area. So it would be wise for all of us to remove our coats and hats."

Toriel turned around and started to help Chara out of their coat, despite the child's protests that they could get most of it on their own. Mary and Asriel took this as their cue to remove their own winter gear. Mary had gotten her coat off, and was just moving to grab her hat when Toriel grabbed her wrist, stopping her.

"Perhaps you should leave that on for a bit longer my child, and push it down to cover your eyes."

"Why?" Mary asked. Toriel hesitated, suddenly tense.

"Oh! I know!" Asriel interjected. "You want our home to be a big surprise right? If she keeps the hat over her eyes it'll be like a blindfold and then we can take it off when we get there."

"Yes, that's right Asriel." Toriel quickly agreed with her son's conclusion.

"Oh, okay! That sounds fun! But what about Chara?" Mary asked, seeing that all of the other child's winter clothes were already off and being held by Toriel.

"Do you want to be surprised as well my child?" Toriel asked Chara. The human shook their head.

"I like to see where I'm going."

"Very well. Let us be off then."

Once Mary had pushed her hat down over her eyes Toriel took the girl's hand and they headed out.

It was interesting moving without sight. Mary found she noticed other things more, like the dry heat of the air and the crunching of rock under her feet. Mary listened apprehensively as Asriel told his Father how he discovered Chara and herself, and the journey that followed after. When she realized he was glossing over the more personal moments she began to relax and add some commentary of her own, such as how much she enjoyed playing in the snow. Toriel explained anything that Asriel had gone over too quickly for Asgore to understand, while Chara only made a few short comments here and there. Such as their insistence that their team up with Toriel had won the snowball fight. Mary started a little bit when the crunch of stone was replaced with metallic tapping.

"It's alright Mary, we've just entered a building. I think we can remove your hat now, since we are close to New Home."

Mary sighed in contentment as the garment was removed. Hotland really lived up to it's name, and Mary's hair had become unpleasantly damp underneath the cap. She looked around, and was confused when she realized what a small space they were in.

"Where are we going from here?" she asked.

"Up." Asriel replied. Mary found this answer very unhelpful, as there were no stairs in sight. It was then that Mary noticed a series of buttons across the back wall. Was this another puzzle? Asgore was closest to them, and bent his head so that one of his horns pressed a single button. The whole room suddenly jolted slightly, and Mary put her hands on the wall to steady herself.

"What? You've never been on an elevator before either?" Chara asked from Asgore's arms.

"N-no. I mean, I know what they are, I just didn't realize we were in one." Mary replied. Chara gave them a strange look, and Mary tried not to blush. She was saved from further interaction by Asriel.

"Don't worry, monsters ride this all the time to get from New Home to the rest of Hotland, so it's very safe."

The doors opened just a few seconds after Asriel finished talking. Mary remembered the 'surprise' that was coming, and eagerly trailed after Toriel when she stepped out. The walls just outside the elevator were made of brick, but when those walls ended...

Mary could only stand and gape at what lay before her. The city was absolutely massive, sprawling into every corner available and reaching for the cavern's ceiling. Monsters of every shape, size, and color could be seen going about their lives on the streets below.

"Children." Toriel's said. "Welcome to New Home. If you so desire it, this place can be you're new home as well."

Mary blinked several times, and looked up at Toriel and Asgore.

"Huh?"

Thankfully, Chara was a bit more articulate.

"You want us to stay here? I thought you were just showing us the way out." Asgore bowed his head solemnly.

"If leaving was that easy, we ourselves would have left to live on the surface years ago. The barrier that keeps us here will let nearly anything in, but prevents anything from getting out. The barrier can be breached under very specific circumstances, but neither of those options are currently available to us. It pains us that we cannot reunite you with those you left behind on the surface, but I promise that for as long as you remain here Tori and I will take care of you."

Both Chara and Mary stared at him, stunned by the offer.

"You mean, you want us to stay with you? For always?" Mary asked shakily.

"You would really do that for us?" Chara asked just after Mary. Asgore nodded.

"For as long as you desire, we would be happy to have you."

Mary stared at him once more, something warm and buoyant unfurling in her chest as she realized what was being offered to her.

"Mary, Chara, would you like to know where we live?" Toriel prompted. Both children nodded mutely. The goat woman pointed ahead, and far in the distance the children saw what looked like a castle rising up above the other buildings.

"A castle..." Mary gasped, her awe shifting towards excitement. "Doesn't that mean-"

"Yup! Mom and Dad are the rulers of the whole Underground!" Asriel stated proudly.

As she took that in, little details started to click in Mary's memory about how all the other monsters deferred to Toriel and even Asriel. Such things were momentarily swept from her thoughts when one major connection was formed in her mind. Mary gasped, her eyes grew incredibly wide, and she nearly vibrated from the realization.

"Mary?" slight concern colored Toriel's tone.

"I'm going to be a princess!" Mary squealed. The three goat monsters couldn't help but smile and laugh at the pure delight in Mary's words.

"I'll take that as approval from Mary." Asgore said, still chuckling. He turned his head to look down at Chara. "What about you little one?"

Chara's reaction was far more subdued, but no less genuine. The child gazed back at Asgore with obvious wonder, and something glittered in the corner of their eyes.

"I'll stay." They answered in a hushed, almost reverent, tone.

"Then welcome to the family, my children." Toriel said with her warmest smile yet.

"Yeah, welcome to the family!" Asriel shouted. He enveloped Mary in a tight hug, who hugged back just as tightly and gave another excited squeal. Asriel turned to Chara when he was done, but had to stop. Seeing the problem, Toriel quickly lifted her son by the waist so he was level with the other child. He hugged Chara as best he could, and after a moment of hesitation Chara lightly wrapped their arms around him in return.

Once Asriel was placed back on the ground Toriel took his hand as well as Mary's. With that the Dreemur family, now two members larger, set out for their home.

* * *

 **A.N.**

Woo! Glad that's finally out of the way. Sorry, this took so much longer than the other chapters. I had a heck of a time deciding how Asgore should be introduced. I can't say how soon the next one will be out, since I've got a couple other stories I want to work on. But rest assured, this story will be continued.

Some of the upcoming chapters I plan on being a bit more slice of life rather than purely story driven. So if anyone has suggestions for some character interaction between these guys feel free to leave a comment about it.

In other news; there's a fan creation for this story! NatAngel Dark Wings from made an MMD animation of the opening scene for this story. The movements a bit rough in some spots, but overall I approve. :) Here's the youtube plug for it:

watch?v=3NennjDGfDI&app=desktop

Reviews and constructive criticism are always welcome. Thanks so much for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

Toriel quietly shut the door to Asriel's new room, bidding him good night as she did so. This new room was smaller out of necessity. If the royal family had taken in only one new child they likely would have just added another bed to Asriel's room and saved renovations for later. However, given that they now had three children, and the way Mary and Chara acted toward each other, they decided to get renovations out of the way now. Each child would likely want their own space eventually, and giving each of them a room the same size showed no favoritism.

So the hallway leading from the entryway now had four doors. Toriel and Asgore's room was the furthest down. Chara's room was closest to the royal couple, and Asriel was placed on the other side of Chara. That left the door closest to the entrance for Mary.

Toriel thought about everything that had happened since they'd taken in the two human children as she walked to the den. Even with monster magic to aid them it took time to turn two rooms into three smaller rooms. So while the architects and carpenters worked on the rooms the royal family gave its two newest members a tour. The barrier was the first stop, to ensure the humans knew the monsters were sincere about no one being able to leave. Chara hadn't seemed all that upset. She almost seemed to be studying the room, looking around with a level of focus that Toriel had only seen during the snowball fight.

Perhaps they would eventually become a scientist that studied the barrier, that would be an interesting twist of fate. Mary, on the other hand, looked at the barrier as though remembering something unpleasant. That seemed to be a common expression for the girl.

After that the humans were shown the rest of the castle rooms and grounds. Both children immediately took to the garden, though Chara couldn't go far and Mary occasionally got that 'remembering' look to her face. The King and Queen also introduced the pair of humans to some of their more trusted subjects. There would eventually be an official announcement of Chara and Mary's adoption, but they wanted to give the pair a chance to get settled in first. Plus, if word was allowed to spread a bit first then it might not be such a shock when the announcement did come.

The most interesting thing to happen that day, in Toriel's opinion, was the check up. Once Asgore found out that the humans were both injured the King had asked the royal scientist to make a house call. After all, if any monster in the Underground knew about human biology it would be WD Gaster. The skeletal monster had not been pleased to be drawn away from his work, but once he heard the reason he became much more cooperative. He and his assistant, a young lizard monster named Alphys, had brought over diagnostic equipment from their lab in Hotland and had set it up in the throne room by the time the tour had ended.

Chara had treated the Royal Scientist with a high amount of suspicion upon being introduced to him. Toriel had expected this due to Chara's previous behavior; the child never took anything at face value. The Queen hadn't expected Mary to react similarly though, and was quite surprised when the girl acted more wary of Gaster than Chara did. Toriel began to fear that she would not be able to convince either child to have an examination done.

However, when Chara took notice of how Mary was acting they boldly declared that they weren't enough of a baby to be scared of a doctor, and allowed herself to be carried into the throne room by Asgore.

Mary fretted while the other human was away, and peppered Alphys, Asriel, and Toriel, with questions about what would happen during the examination. Alphys's nervous answers made the girl more anxious, and the Queen and Prince rushed to reassure her that the process was completely harmless and non invasive. They managed to soothe Mary somewhat, and she was further reassured when Chara returned. Chara proudly insisted the whole thing had been no big deal; that they had just laid on table while Gaster pushed a lot of buttons and nothing had hurt at all. Hearing this, Mary was finally convinced to go in herself. Asgore stayed with her, in case her nerves returned.

Mary's examination took the same amount of time as Chara's. Curiously, the girl looked more anxious than before as she returned. Toriel suspected that this was related to the fact that it took several more minutes for her husband and WD Gaster to emerge and speak with them.

The Royal Scientist explained that Chara's leg was taking a while to heal because most of their healing spells were suited for monsters, beings made mostly of magic and little physical matter. Gaster gave Toriel a piece of paper he'd written up, detailing changes that could be made to the most common healing spells. The alterations would make the spell affect a human's physical body rather than the trace amounts of magic that resided within them. The Queen thanked him profusely, knowing how valuable the knowledge would be as the human children grew up. Gaster said that, if his calculations were right, casting the spell tonight would allow Chara's leg to heal as they slept. Then they would be able to walk on their own in the morning. Upon hearing this, Asriel had immediately started making plans for games they could all play together the next day.

Then came the news from Mary's check up. Gaster was also able to produce an altered spell for her, one that would heal her burns to the point where they would not hurt unless put under great strain. The magic should also reduce the visibility of Mary's scars, but Gaster knew of nothing that would make them vanish completely.

Toriel had expected the child to be upset by that news. While Mary did look disappointed she held herself strangely stiff, as if bracing herself for something. When Gaster offered no further assessment, besides to say that both children were otherwise healthy, Toriel could see the tension drain out of the blonde child.

As strange as the reaction was it turned out to be beneficial. Mary's relief made her settle easily in her new bed and room, and the Queen was fairly certain the child was asleep before the door was closed. Asriel and Chara would take longer, but they were also tired from the long day. So Toriel felt confident in leaving them to rest as she talked to her her husband in the den.

Asgore was sitting in his large overstuffed chair in front of the unlit fire place. Toriel's own chair rested next to his, and as she settled into it she noticed how pensive her husband looked.

"Penny for your thoughts, dear?" she asked, lightly teasing. Asgore gave her a small smile, the mere sitght of his beloved wife causing his mood to lighten. Still there was something he needed to discuss with her, and he wasn't sure how to broach the subject.

"I have not spent as much time with the two new children as you have, my dear. Tell me, what is your impression of them?"

"Well," Toriel started after a minute of thought. "the two of them are very alike in some ways and very different in others. They are both rather impatient, though they display it in different ways. Mary is bright and eager to greet everyone and everything that comes her way, while Chara is more reserved and questions every new experience. I don't believe the child would have approached Asriel or myself if their injury had not made it a necessity."

"Ultimately, I think they are both using these different traits to hide something about themselves, something painful. Chara hides by keeping everything close to the vest, while Mary distracts and avoids."

"You have no idea what it is they might be trying to conceal?" Asgore asked. Toriel shook her head.

"In Chara's case I have no idea. The one statement they made about their past was used to dodge the issue completely. In Mary's case it may be connected to her father. I believe he may have died in a fire."

When her husband pressed for more details, she recounted Mary's reaction to open flame and what she had told Asriel about her family. Asgore nodded thoughtfully, it was a plausible theory. The fact that Mary was taken care of by 'siblings, in a way', sounded a bit like an orphanage. Monsters had such establishments in place in case a child's parents ever 'fell down'. None stayed there very long though, there was always a monster family willing to care for an extra child or two.

"There is nothing else you can think of?" Asgore asked.

"What exactly are you getting at Gorey?" Toriel asked, head tilted slightly in confusion. The King sighed.

"Something...strange...came up during Mary's examination."

"Is that why you took so long to follow her out? Is Mary alright?" The Queen asked in alarm.

"Yes, to both. As near as Gaster can tell Mary is perfectly healthy, aside from her burns. Gaster described it more as a discrepancy than a problem."

The King noticed Tori was getting frustrated with his vagueness, and hurried to recount the conversation he had with the Royal Scientist earlier that day.

* * *

"Fascinating."

That was the first thing Gaster had said after Mary exited the room. Normally the skeleton monster's voice shook with the effort of using it, which is why he preferred to speak with his hands. The excitement in Gaster's voice made the tremors much less noticeable though.

"What is that you have found?" The King questioned.

"Are you aware of the differences between monster souls and human souls, your majesty?"

"I know that humans have much stronger souls than monsters, almost ridiculously stronger, and that human souls look different than monster souls."

"That is correct, and that is why the differences between the two children are so interesting." The scientist pulled out several papers that had been spewed out by the scanners he'd used on both Chara and Mary. He laid a few down in front of Asgore on the exam table.

"This is a basic scan of Chara's soul."

Asgore took it, briefly reading through the stats. He noted that Chara's ATK was higher than he would have expected., before turning his attention to the depiction of the human's soul. It wasn't as different from a monster soul as he had first assumed it would be. The shape was the same, though the broader portion was on the top rather than the bottom. The soul also had a different color, a bright red rather than a typical monster white.

"According to past research, the color of a human's soul is significant. It displays the trait that is most used to carry them through life. Chara's bright red indicates Determination, a trait that can lead a person to accomplish almost any goal they set for themselves. I could study the astounding affects of Determination to the end of my days, but that is not what this is about."

Gaster then laid a different set of sheets in front of Asgore.

"This is the scan of Mary's soul."

Asgore noticed that Mary's DEF was significantly lower than Chara's, even though her ATK was nearly as high. That was a bit curious, but what was truly strange was the appearance of the girl's soul. Mary's soul had the same orientation of a monster soul, the broader part facing down, and the color was a shade of pink so light it was almost white. Had the paper itself not been white, it would be hard to tell that her soul had a color at all.

"So, Mary's soul displays traits of both a human soul and a monster soul?" Asgore looked at Gaster in obvious confusion.

"So it would seem. Mary's body also contains much less physical matter than Chara's, though not as little as a typical monster of her size. She also has more than just trace amounts of magic in her, almost as much as a young monster."

"So, is she a human able to use magic?" Asgore couldn't help but think of the barrier's creators.

"I do not think so. If she were wholly human she would not have so little physical matter in her body. I believe the extra magic is needed to hold her physical form together, though it is possible she could be trained to perform small magic spells. I would suggest caution though. If her magic is needed to maintain her form then attempting a powerful spell could harm her greatly."

"So...what do we do about this?" The scientist just shrugged at his king.

"I am going to continue to study the data, as it seems Mary may be a unique being or part of some unknown species. I look forward to delving into the new data." The lights of the monster's eyes shone bright with excitement before turning solemn. "I will of course be discreet, and share this data with only Alphys. What you do with this information is entirely up to you."

With that, Gaster took the papers detailing the needed spell alterations and went out to deliver them to the Queen.

* * *

For a long time both monster were quiet, taking in all the implications of Gaster's discovery.

"This doesn't change anything." Toriel stated firmly. "No matter what her true nature, is Mary is still a child in need of our help."

"I agree Tori, I just wanted you to know, to get your thoughts on the subject."

"Perhaps this is what she was trying to hide from us." Toriel mused.

"Perhaps." Asgore agreed. "If that is the case, then how do we proceed?"

"I think we should leave it be for now. If Mary doesn't want us to know she is different, then she won't take it well if we directly confront her. If we give her time to know and trust us, then perhaps one day Mary will tell us about it herself. In the mean time, she shall just be one of our children." Asgore took her hand with a smile.

"I agree, and we shall give them all our best."

Toriel smiled back and squeezed his hand. She had a feeling that, so long as they had each other, they could handle whatever challenges lay ahead.

* * *

 **A.N.**

I'm back! Finally got a new chapter out for this story, and I hope it was worth the wait.

I was quite surprised that reviewer MaydayMarbear was one of the only ones to bring up the fact that Mary's soul does not look like a typical human soul in chapter 2. I was kind of worried that I hadn't made that reference obvious enough, so I decided to bump this scene up a bit. (It was originally planned to happen later in the story).

I'm thinking the next chapters won't be quite as linear. I'm going to try for some 'slice of life' chapters to show what life is now like for the royal family and how everyone gets along with each other.

Also, my head cannon for Gaster's voice comes from comics and videos dubbed by SuperShadic X250 on Youtube. Here is a plug for the most recent one they did involving Gaster: watch?v=wzxPhv10HGQ


	6. Chapter 6

Asriel crept slowly along the ground, not daring make a sound as he sneaked toward the bush. Once he was close enough he paused for a moment, steeling himself. Then he lunged forward, pushed a branch aside, and thrust his head through the mass of leaves.

"Found you!"

"Seriously?! That's the fifth time I've been found first! How did you find me so fast?" Chara demanded.

After going through a whole day of travel, introductions, and doctor visits the King and Queen decided it would be good for all the children to have a day to run around and play. As Gaster predicted, the new spell had allowed Chara to heal overnight. They still had a noticeable limp, but they no longer needed to be supported or carried everywhere. This was a great relief to Chara, and they eagerly agreed to a game of hide and seek to test out their mobility.

Mary also jumped at the chance for a game now that she didn't hurt all over. She also figured it would be fun to find some brand new hiding places. She'd memorized all the ones in the gallery ages ago.

"I saw the orange stripes of your sweater through the branches." Asriel explained. "This bush grows white flowers and red berries, so you kind of stuck out."

Chara looked down at their orange and brown striped sweater as though it had betrayed them.

"Dang it, I should have picked out green like Mary did. With that dress and her hair she blends in with everything around here."

Mary's head popped out of another bush several feet away.

"Oh! Does that mean I have natural camowflag?"

Both children stared at her.

"You have what?" Chara asked, their face all scrunched up.

"Camowflag. You know, when something is the same color as the stuff around it so it blends in really well?"

"Do you mean camouflage?" Asriel suggested. Now it was Mary who scrunched her face up.

"Camouflage? That just sounds weird, and the word doesn't look like it should sound anything like that."

"Yeah, that's because English is dumb." Chara chimed in. "Anyway, since Mary gave away her hiding spot, I guess we gotta start over."

"It's my turn to be it!" Mary declared happily. She pushed forward, but was forced to stop. The branches snagged her skirt and held her back. She struggled with them, but it didn't seem to help.

"What's the hold up?" Chara asked with a raised eyebrow. Mary struggled a bit more before giving up; her cheeks coloring in her embarrassment.

"I think I'm stuck."

"I'll resolve the issue!" Asriel declared. He ran over to Mary and knelt down, looking for the places her skirt had caught. "I can reach most of these, but not the ones on the back. Chara, can you pull Mary forward once I get the snags out?"

Chara shrugged and walked over to them. "You know this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't worn a dumb dress to play hide and seek."

"Shirts can get caught on stuff too! And I never had a problem playing in a dress before." Mary argued. Granted there hadn't been many bushes in her old home.

"Then obviously you weren't doing this whole 'playing' thing right." Chara replied. Then Asriel gave the signal and Chara grabbed Mary's hand and yanked her forward. She broke free so easily that she ran into Chara and the momentum sent them both to the ground.

"Get off me." Chara grumbled.

"You're the one that pulled so hard." Mary said, moving to get up. She stopped when something caught her eye though.

"Hey, look at that flower! I didn't see any like it yesterday."

"What flower?" Chara had to drop their head down and almost rolled their eyes up into their head to see the direction Mary was looking. It was worth it to see the beautiful, glowing blue blossom though.

Chara let out a sound of awe. Mary finally remembered what she was doing and finished getting up. Asriel came forward and helped pull Chara up, now seeing which flower they were talking about.

"Oh yeah! That's a really neat one. Come here, I'll show you how it works!"

The children gathered around the glowing blossom that stood at the edge of the garden. The two non-monster children crouched down to study it closely, though they made sure not to get in each others space. Asriel stood beside the flower, and addressed his new siblings like a teacher.

"This is the Echo Flower. It has the unique trait of repeating the last noise that occurred in close proximity to it. It requires a lot of water, so it can only grow naturally in Waterfall. That's why there's only one in the garden, and why it's so far away from the others. Dad tried planting one closer to the other flowers before, but it kept hogging all the water in the soil and made it hard for the other flowers to grow."

"Does that make it lonely?" Mary asked.

"Does that make it lonely?" The flower repeated in a wispy voice, startling Mary a bit. Chara laughed.

"That's so cool! Let me try!" Chara pushed their face forward and whispered something to the blossom.

"I'm the legendary fart master." The flower said a moment later. Chara fell over cackling and Asriel snorted in laughter. Mary frowned.

"Don't make it say bad things about itself! You made it sound sad!" Mary accused once the laughter subsided. Chara rolled their eyes.

"It's a plant Mary. It doesn't feel anything, and it probably always sounds like that."

"How do you know it doesn't feel? I'd sound sad too if I had to stay over here all by myself."

"It's a PLANT. It can't feel lonely."

"You thought a dog couldn't be a guard either. So how do you know plants can't feel down here?"

"Fine! I'll ask someone then. Hey Asriel, are the plants sentient in the Underground?"

"Um, I guess I never really thought about it, but I don't think so." Asriel replied. "The closest thing we have to sentient plants are Moldsmal and Moldbygg. But those move around and stuff, so you can tell they are monsters and not plants. Echo flowers don't move around."

Chara gave Mary a smug look, and the girl pouted.

"Just because they're stuck doesn't mean they aren't alive." She said quietly.

"No one said they aren't alive, but they aren't the sentient kind of alive."

"You guys fight a lot. Is that normal for friends?" Asriel asked. The pair looked up at him.

"We're not friends." Chara stated.

"Not before we came down here anyway." Mary added. Asriel looked confused.

"But you fell down here together; I thought that meant you were friends."

"Nope, I didn't even know Mary before I woke up to her beside me on that flower bed. I guess we both just have really bad luck."

"Yeah, it was weird timing. But it's good we were both down there at the same time, so we could help each other. Does that mean that both of us falling was good luck or bad luck?" Mary asked, trying to keep them from asking how she had ended up there.

"Bad luck." Chara answered at the same time Asriel said "Good luck."

"How is it good luck?" Chara demanded.

"Well, if Mary hadn't fallen with you then I might not have heard your cries for help, or been able to get you back to Mom on my own." Asriel said.

"Maybe, but if either of us had good luck we probably wouldn't have fallen in the first place. Nothing against the Underground, but I broke a leg to get here. It's really surprising that Mary didn't, so maybe she doesn't have quite as much bad luck as me."

Mary wasn't sure about that, considering where she'd been living previously. You had to be pretty unlucky to be stuck in a place like that, right? But then she found her way here instead of dying. So maybe she was gaining some good luck, or at least losing some bad luck. But she was still stuck inside a place that had a barrier around it that kept everyone from reaching the Outside. That revelation had been pretty hard to swallow once she'd actually had time to think about it, so she actively avoided doing so. Still, this was better than being dead, and she'd met such wonderful people. She had a family now, and wouldn't give that up for the world. So she definitely had bad luck, but she would hold on to what her good luck had brought her.

She listened to Asriel and Chara have a similar debate about luck. It didn't sound like either side was making headway into changing the others mind. Well, Asriel was making a bit of progress, since he got Chara to say that they mostly liked it down here.

Mary smiled a bit. Chara never gave into anything easily, but Asriel had a way of drawing them out and making them admit things they might not have otherwise. Seeing them like this made her miss Ib terribly, but it also reminded her how happy she was to know both of them.

Still, after her introspective about luck, Mary couldn't deny that her feelings about the Underground were more mixed now.

Chara whispered something to the Echo Flower. When Asriel started to make his next argument Chara poked the flower and it murmured "Idiot."

Mary couldn't help but giggle, both at Chara's excellent timing and how weird it was to hear the insult done in such a sweet, whispering voice.

Asriel blinked in surprise, and tried to plow ahead anyway, but Chara kept poking the flower and making it repeat the word. Chara giggled at their own actions, Mary joined them, and soon even Asriel was laughing at the weird turn the argument had taken.

They were still laughing when Asgore came to fetch them for supper.

"Don't think this is over Chara, I'm gonna bring this up over dinner and we'll see what Mom and Dad think."

"Cheater." Chara accused with a grin, accepting the challenge of taking on all three monsters in verbal combat.

"It's not cheating, I'm deliberating with advisers." Asriel replied.

Mary considered bringing up her own thoughts on the subject during the dinner discussion, but refrained so she didn't accidentally saw anything about her past. She did ask Toriel for a diary after supper though. She loved her new family, but full knowledge of Mary's origins had driven people away before. She wasn't willing to risk that with them, but she still needed some way to get things about her past off her chest. Thankfully her mother agreed to her request, and even found diaries to give to Asriel and Chara as well.

The first thing Mary wrote in her diary was a reminder: Visit the Echo Flower often, and give it lots of positive things to say.

* * *

 **A.N.**

I'm glad I finally got this chapter sorted out, it was being a real bugger. I have a much clearer idea of how I want to writer the chapters after this, so hopefully it won't be nearly as long until the next update.

Also, if anyone has ideas for situations or encounters you want to see these kids go through, then please continue to send them to me. I don't really have anyone irl that I can bounce ideas off of, because I don't know anyone else in both of these fandoms, so reader suggestions can really help me solidify ideas.

Also, in case anyone was confused about the whole camouflage thing:

I figure Mary has a fairly large vocabulary, but sometimes gets pronunciations wrong because she's only read the words and never heard them spoken aloud. I myself that the word 'macabre' was pronounced 'mack-ah-brey' when I was younger, because that's what I got by sounding it out. I might make this a minor running gag for Mary. Any ideas for other words she might have trouble pronouncing because she never heard them aloud? Let me know!

Thank so much for sticking with this everyone!


	7. Chapter 7

It had been a few days since Chara had arrived at New Home with the others, and they could honestly say that it was the best bout of downtime they'd ever had.

It was late, past their bedtime, but Chara wasn't tired yet. Toriel was pretty strict about curfew though, so Chara couldn't go out to burn off energy. They settled for reading a book in bed.

It was one they had borrowed from their new brother, Asriel, and it had a bunch of monster myths and fairy tales in it. Chara had done plenty of reading on the surface, since it was a good solo activity, and was picking up the differences and similarities to human myths as they read.

They were finding a lot of stories about making friends in the monster book. Even when characters ended up in a FIGHT they somehow managed to pull off being friends by the end of the story. Chara would have scoffed at the idea if they'd read it on the surface, but they could picture it happening with the monsters. There were some stories that had the main character beat their adversary through cleverness or puzzles, and those weren't too different from surface stories.

Still, they had yet to come across any 'hero beats the scary creature through violence and willpower' stories in the monster myths. They wondered what Asriel would think of some of the Greek myths they'd read.

There was a knock at the door, and Chara looked up from their book to see Toriel peaking into the room.

"Ah, you are still awake my child. You should get some rest after I leave, but I had a question for you first."

"Sure Goat Mom, shoot." Chara said, closing the book. Toriel smiled, as she always did when Chara called her that.

"As you know, we have scheduled the official announcement of you and Mary's adoption at the end of the week. Since it will be your first royal function I am making outfits for the two of you. Now, would you like me to make you a suit or a dress?"

"A dress?" Chara asked incredulously, bolting upright. "Why would I want to wear some stupid dress in front of a bunch of people? It'll make me look like some dumb girly girl!"

"I beg your pardon?" Toriel stepped completely into the room, confusion written all over her face. Chara huffed.

"Nobody listens to you when you where a dress." Chara said, as though this was the most obvious thing in the world, and to them it was. The only people they knew on the surface who wore dresses were little girls and airhead women, and nobody took them seriously. Down here, people listened to Chara, and they didn't have to whine or threaten people to make it happen. They didn't want to do anything that would jeopardize that, like showing up to the announcement in some frilly dress.

Toriel hummed thoughtfully and sat down on the bed.

"Chara, do you consider me to be 'some dumb girly girl'?"

"No way!" Chara looked aghast. They hadn't known Toriel very long, but it was easy to see how smart and strong she was. She helped rule the whole Underground after all. Plus, when the royal couple had been showing Chara and Mary around and making introductions, Chara had seen something hard in the Queen of Monsters. When a monster looked like they were about to say something about the presence of humans in the castle, Toriel had given them a look. Chara had never seen anyone back down so fast.

"You are an observant child, Chara. You've seen how other monters defer to me as their leader, yes?"

Chara nodded.

"And yet I wear a dress everyday. So does Mary, as a matter of fact. Have you noticed anyone ignoring Mary, or insulting her for her choice in clothing?"

Aside from Chara themself...no. Chara shook their head.

"That is because they respect us, my child. Just like they respect you. Some monsters you've met are not entirely comfortable with your presence here yet, as I'm sure you've noticed. But despite that they respect you as a person, and that will not change based on what you wear."

Toriel pushed herself off the bed and walked over to the door. Before exiting she turned back to Chara.

"You can wear whatever you wish to the announcement, but please give it some thought before making your final decision."

Chara nodded once more, and the door clicked softly as Toriel exited. They thought over what Toriel had said, and had an idea. Mary, _ridiculously perfect girly girl_ _Mary,_ had dresses that were about the right size. If they wanted to know how wearing a dress felt...

They rejected the thought at first, but after some consideration they realized it would be the quickest way to accomplish their goal.

Chara went over to their door and cautiously looked out into the hallway. There was no sign of Goat Mom or Goat Dad. Seeing that the coast was clear, Chara quickly exited their room, softly shut the door, and tiptoed down the hall. They stopped outside of Mary's room.

"Mary!" Chara spoke as loud at they dared, and tapped at the door. After a few repeats of this the door opened to reveal a sleepy looking Mary in a light pink night gown.

"Chara? What are you doing up so late?"

"I'll tell you, but let me in first so I don't get in trouble for being out."

Mary nodded and stepped back so Chara could enter.

"Is something wrong?" The blonde girl asked through a yawn.

"Not really, but...did Toriel come and ask you what you wanted to wear to the announcement?"

"Yep."

"I'm guessing you said a dress, right?"

"Of course. What about you?"

"That's why I'm here. She asked me too...but I'm not sure what I want to do. It's been a really long time since I wore a dress and I don't know if I'd like it. So I want to try yours on to see how it feels."

It took a minute for the words to work themselves through Mary's tired brain, but once they did her eyes became incredibly bright and she started grinning ear to ear.

"You wanna play dress up!?" Mary asked in delight. Chara's instinct was to deny it, but then they realized that's basically what this would be.

"I guess so." Chara replied, as though they themself couldn't believe it.

Mary squealed, quietly of course, and ran over to her closet.

"This is going to be so much fun! Toriel was super nice and made my dresses in some different styles, so you can try each of them on."

First was a violet one, which would probably look the closest to what they would wear for the actual event, since purple seemed to be symbolic of the royal family. Chara had to admit that they liked how the violet looked on them, though the sleeves on this one were too long and made their arms itch. Keeping that in mind, Mary next gave them a dark blue dress that had short sleeves and a floor length skirt. The top on this one was definitely more comfortable, but Chara kept stepping on the hem of the dress. Mary insisted that Chara's own dress would be hemmed up, since Mary was a little bit taller than them, but Chara was put off long skirts at that point. There was a white and red dress in there too, but Mary skipped over that one in favor of another.

"Oh! I bet you'll like this one, it's my favorite out of my new dresses."

Chara put it on. It was light green, similar to the stripes on Asriel's favorite shirt, and had a simple top with a skirt that just went past their knees.

"It is pretty comfortable." Chara admitted. "What makes this one your favorite?"

"Spin."

"Huh?"

"Spin!" Mary insisted.

"Okay..." Chara did a quick 360, and noticed that the dress's skirt flared out a bit. Intrigued, they spun around a bit faster this time, and the skirt rose higher. The next thing Chara knew they were twirling around the room and laughing as the skirt flared so high it was nearly horizontal.

"That's so cool!" Chara declared after they stopped spinning.

"I know!" Mary replied. "So are you gonna ask Toriel for one like it?"

"Maybe. I'll think about it and tell her in the morning."

Chara put their regular clothes back on and gave the dress back to Mary.

"Did Toriel mention anything about shoes?" she asked as she hung the dress back up. "I'm not sure if the ones I have are good enough for a 'royal function'."

"I don't care if the ones I have are good enough, if they try to get me to wear some ridiculous fancy shoes then I'm wearing my old ones. I may go for a dress but high heels are just stupid!"

"Yeah! Why would you make shoes you can't run in?"

"Exactly!"

"Though, if all we had to do was stand up on a stage or something they might not be so bad. I could kick them off afterward and run around barefoot!" Mary said, with obvious delight. The Chara was struck with an idea.

"Oh! What about high heels with knives as the heel? If I learned to walk in those kind of heels I could stab things with my feet!"

It was only after Chara finished speaking that they fully realized what they had just said. The people in her village had always given them strange looks when they said those kinds of things, and they expected that Mary would be no different. Which was kind of a shame because this had become pretty fun.

However, instead of being distressed or scandalized, Mary looked thoughtful.

"That could be pretty cool, but wouldn't it be super hard to walk in? You'd have to balance on the tip of the knife the whole time."

"Hmmm, I didn't think about that...Oh! What if they had a thick heel with a knife hidden inside it? Then you could just have the knife pop out whenever you wanted it to."

"Yeah, that might work! I don't think Toriel would like that though..." Mary looked a little worried.

"No, probably not." Chara said with a sigh. "But I can dream."

"If you wanna dream then you better get to bed, silly!" Mary said in a sickeningly sweet tone. Mary didn't use the tone often, which was good because Chara hated it. It always sounded like she was...trying too hard or something. Still, Chara was pretty tired by now.

"Right, all tell you all about my knife stomping dream over breakfast tomorrow."

"Okay!"

Sometimes Mary had a hard time picking up on sarcasm.

Chara didn't bring up the knife heels over breakfast the next morning. Instead they asked Toriel if she would make them a dress similar to Mary's light green one, with some leggings to match. The Queen of monsters happily agreed to do so.

The day of the announcement came, and Mary and Chara stood on a raised stage in their new dresses. Asriel stood beside them in a well made suit, doing his best to look confident so his siblings didn't get nervous. Mary had asked Toriel to do her hair up in a bun, so she looked more royal and grown up. Chara didn't care and just made sure their hair was brushed.

Asgore spoke from behind a podium, with Toriel at his side. He explained how the two humans had come to be in the Underground (Mary fidgeted during that bit), how they had been adopted by the royal family and would be treated as the new Princess and Princen of the Underground. Asgore declared that this new bond marked a momentous occasion in the future of humans and monsters. The monsters cheered at the end of Asgore's speech.

The two new royal children gazed out over the see of monster faces. There were so many different kinds and sizes of monsters, so many monsters in general, that it was a bit overwhelming.

Outwardly, Mary basked in the attention. She smiled at everyone and stood taller whenever the monsters cheered and clapped, she even got the chance to curtsy to a few of them after the main speech was over. But doubts whispered in the back of her mind. They all thought she was a human, that she had a definable category, but Mary knew that she did not. She was a creature not of this world, one that probably was never meant to exist in the first place. Would they still look at her with such hope if they knew what she really was?

Chara smiled at the crowd too, even as a ball of anxiety settled in their stomach. No one had ever expected much from them before, except to maybe screw up or be quiet. Or to screw up being quiet. Now Asgore said she and Mary were the future of humans and monsters. What did that mean? What could Chara possibly do to live up to such an ideal?

Both of them were saved during the party after the speech. Asriel took advantage of a lull in conversation to grab both of his siblings by the hand and drag them toward an exit.

"Come on, lets get out of here before they start talking about the boring stuff. I'll race you to the garden!"

The pair put the voices of doubt and anxiety on hold, and focused on beating their brother.

* * *

 **A.N.**

This chapter was inspired by the comics of tumblr user 'flavor text chara'. If you type 'flavor text chara tumblr' into google their tumblr should be the first result. The first section came from one specific comic they did:

post/136838341945/afab-chara-who-learned-to-hate-femininity-is

I've also taken some inspiration from their representation of Chara's motivations, which has come up in several different posts. I highly recommend this comic to all of my readers. The art style is adorable and they represent the characters wonderfully.


	8. Chapter 8

Resources management was a struggle. Asgore imagined that was true for every nation, but it was especially true when a people were forced to build their lives in a small underground cavern.

It was fortunate for them that Hotland existed, and that their scientists had been able to harness the geothermal energy the land produced. Asgore recognized that, and made sure to never underestimate or undervalue his scientists. But while abundant energy was a blessing it could not solve all of their problems. There were very few places in the Underground that could produce food, for example.

That was the problem that kept Asgore up so late this night. His wife and all of the children had already gone to bed, but he remained in the den. He was looking over a report sent to him by the agricultural branch of the royal science department, which detailed their concerns about declining harvest over the years. The decline was gradual, so there was no need to panic yet, but it was best to tend to these things as soon as possible.

The scientists believed that the decline was due to the stress being placed on the soil. Having so many monsters to feed meant that they had to put their arable land to full use, and the soil only had so many nutrients to give. The report included several proposals on what could be done to combat this, ranging from rationing food to magical methods of restoring soil nutrients. Asgore had spent the night looking them over.

The King rubbed at his tired eyes. He'd read the report several times, gotten his wife's thoughts on the matter, and thought over all the pros and cons of proposals. He'd decided on the ones that sounded the most reasonable, and would have to wait until morning to discuss their implementation. With that thought in mind, Asgore gathered up the report pages and headed for his room.

As he approached Mary's door though, he paused. It sounded like there were noises coming from inside. Was Mary still up? That wasn't good, it was very late and a growing child needed plenty of rest. He would have to give her a firm talking to if she was keeping herself, or either of the others, awake. Moving as quietly as he could, Asgore stepped in front of Mary's door and listened. He could only hear Mary's voice and she sounded distressed.

"Mary?" He called through the door. He knocked and asked for her again, but the noises did not cease or waver. The King's concern deepened, so after knocking one more time, he opened the door and entered the room.

* * *

Mary stood in a field of flowers. It was mainly yellow roses and buttercups that surrounded her, but she could see a sprinkling of other flowers. They were all sorts of different kinds and colors and none of them existed in the gallery, so how did she know them?

 _'Mary'_

The girl gasped and whirled to face the voice. In the distance stood a human man, one that was more familiar to her than anyone else in the world.

"Daddy?" she asked, hardly daring to hope that it was actually him. The man gazed at her longingly, and smiled at her with all the adoration of the world.

 _'There you are. My little Mary, you're finally here.'_

"Daddy!" Tears ran down Mary's face, and she raced toward him through the flowers. "It's been so long! I can't believe-"

Mary's joyous shouts cut off when her father's smile turned into a grimace. He clutched at the front of his chest and nearly fell. Then Mary realized she could see through him to the flowers on the other side. He was falling and fading and-

"No! Don't go! Hang on, please!"

Mary tried to run faster, but the rose thorns pulled at her skirt, and the plant stems wrapped her ankles.

"Daddy! Daddy please I'm right here! I'm right here Daddy, please don't go!"

Mary struggled to move forward. The thorns grew longer, and reached higher. They shredded Mary's sleeves and dug into skin. Vines snared her wrists. Her father's image was almost gone.

"No!"

Mary strained against the plants with all her strength.

"Don't leave me! Not again! Don't leave me alone!"

She finally managed to free her right wrist. She lunged forward-

And her hand met something furry.

In an instant the world around her vanished. She opened her eyes and found Asgore staring down at her. In that moment, it didn't matter that her small hand was gripping his fingers. She didn't care that his fuzzy face was frowning, and that his dark eyes were filled with concern. All she knew was that this face was not the one she had been calling for. Tears sprang anew from her eyes, and Mary wept.

The bed dipped as Asgore sat down on it. Mary allowed herself to be moved onto his lap, keeping hold of his fingers the whole time. As she cried, she let her head rest against Asgore's chest, and the King rubbed circles into her back.

She wasn't sure how long it took, but eventually her sobs quieted. Her breathing evened out, until it was only interrupted by the occasional hiccup.

"How- hic- did you know to come in." Mary finally addressed the King of Monsters.

"I was passing your door, and heard your voice. You sounded upset, and didn't respond when I knocked, so I came in to check on you. I hope I have not overstepped a boundary."

"No, no, it's okay."

"Were you having a nightmare? I heard you calling for your father." Asgore broached the subject hesitantly, and Mary nodded slowly.

"I saw him, and I tried to get to him, but I wasn't fast enough and he was fading away and -" Mary cut of with a shuddering sob. Asgore soothed her until she calmed once again.

"Mary, I am sorry for the pain you've experienced. I can't replace your father, nor would I presume to. But as long as I am able, I will take care of you, and I know Tori is willing to do the same. So if you ever wish to talk about this, or anything else, we will listen. We will be there for you."

"Thank you." Mary whispered. And she was truly thankful; no one had ever held her like this before. Though others had promised to help her and be with her, none had followed through with it like the royal family had. She could not bring herself to call Asgore 'Daddy', she could not give that title to another. But maybe she could call him 'Papa' instead.

Mary fell asleep in Asgore's arms, and he was still with her when she woke the next morning.

* * *

 **A.N.**

Mary's dream was inspired by a fanime compilation I watched on youtube. If you type "ib fanime" into the youtube search bar a playlist of the fanime should be the first result. The specific scene is found in the third video at 13:18.


End file.
